STUDIES OF NATURE 



shall see it once more before we leave. How 

 much those people lose who do not care to 

 wait upon the moon. It is as though one 

 should miss half the world. Night after night 

 now we watch its waning beauty no, not its 

 waning beauty, but its beauty as it wanes. I 

 say this because the moon is never more lovely 

 than at this time, and diminution of size only 

 seems to give increase to a certain strange and 

 weird quality which appertains to it when the 

 final quarter is approaching. I suppose I shall 

 be told that all this is association. Be it so : I 

 merely record my impressions. 



Last night, after our long walk from Lam- 

 lash, I opened the door about eleven o'clock and 

 looked out. The hamlet was at rest, the twink- 

 ling lights were all extinguished, and the last 

 fisherman had gone from the rocks. There was 

 no sound of voices, no footfall, only a low 

 babble of waves along the shore. I was alone 

 with the sea and the sky. The sky was a deep 



